In today’s gospel we hear of the death of Jesus’ friend Lazarus. St. John makes it very clear that “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.” Yet, when they are most in need and asking for his help, he instead seems to ignore them. When he does finally show up, seemingly too late, Martha and Mary both confront him in confusion and perhaps even anger, “Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.”

When our prayers seem to go unanswered we can find good company with Martha and Mary. Yet, just as was true in the gospel, Jesus does in fact hear our prayers. If he seems not to answer it is only because he desires to bring about a greater good. Who could have imagined that Jesus would bring the dead back to life? Jesus promises us that he loves us and will do what is best for us. Ultimately, he promises us eternal life. The question for us is the same he asked Martha, “Do you believe this?”

In today’s gospel we hear of the miraculous cure of the man born blind. Jesus uses to story to point out that there are ways much more serious than physical blindness that affect all of us. The first is a moral blindness caused by sin. It is hard to see the right way to go when stuck in the darkness of sin. Second is an intellectual blindness. Are we blind to the truths of our faith? How well do we really know Jesus? Finally there is a kind of blindness of charity wherein we are blind to Jesus Christ present in our brothers and sisters in need. We pray that this Lent will be a time of purification and enlightenment in which we find ourselves prepared for the coming of the light of the world at Easter.

Jesus never avoided difficult issues in his public ministry. In today’s gospel he is going right through the heart of the controversial region of Samaria where he encounters the woman at the well. Like the woman we often try to avoid our problems by going time and again to “wells” that will never satisfy us. Jesus promises to be living water to permanently quench our thirst. When we find Jesus we can joyfully leave our bucket behind at the well and live in the new freedom of Christ.

We all love those experiences when we seem to be on top of a mountain in our faith. Everything seems so clear and God seems so close. That’s the gift that Jesus gave to Peter, James, and John in today’s gospel. Yet we tend to forget what it took to arrive at this experience. Climbing a mountain is not easy. It takes our effort. Even when we get on top, we know that we can’t stay there. Jesus didn’t intend for his apostles to just remain on top of the mountain. He had a mission for them. We all need those mountaintop experiences of God. Two questions remain for us. Are we will willing to do the work and what will be the result? We pray that this Lent might find us eager to draw close to God and that the result will be a greater desire to go out and spread the good news, to bring others to the mountain of God.

Temptation often seems to leave us frustrated. We ask God why he would allow such obstacles in our life. Yet in today’s Gospel we see Jesus freely entering into the wilderness to be tempted. He goes to do battle with the devil. While we too do battle with the devil, our temptations often come just from our fallen nature, our own human weakness. We shouldn’t get discouraged by temptation, even when we fail. Each time we are tested, it is an opportunity to tell God that we love him. If we had no freedom, there would be no temptation, but there would also be no love.

As you carry out the various Lenten disciplines that you voluntarily undertake this Lent, you might wonder how hard you should be on yourself. The thing about Lent is that there really aren’t any strict rules for “giving things up.” We abstain from meat on Friday’s of course, but beyond that…it’s up to you. So, how much and what to give up? It all depends on how much you want to grow and how many opportunities you want to tell God that you love him.

As I give talks on the new translation of the Roman Missal which we will begin using this Advent, people are often interested to know just how much difference there really is between the current translation and the new translation. In some cases, there’s not much difference. However, I think “Blessing of Ashes” prayer on Ash Wednesday gives us a pretty good example of why a new translation was needed. Below are the current translation and then the new translation. Note that both prayers are supposedly “translating” the exact same Latin text.

Current
Dear friends in Christ,
let us ask our Father
to bless these ashes
which we will use
as the mark of our repentance.

Forthcoming
Dear brethren (brothers and sisters), let us humbly ask God our Father
that he be pleased to bless with the abundance of his grace
these ashes, which we will put on our heads in penitence.
O God, who are moved by acts of humility
and respond with forgiveness to works of penance,
lend your merciful ear to our prayers
and in your kindness pour out the grace of your blessing
on your servants who are marked with these ashes,
that, as they follow the Lenten observances,
they may be worthy to come with minds made pure
to celebrant the Paschal Mystery of your Son.

This is just one example of how what we have been praying has in many cases not been a “translation” at all, but rather a redaction or even a new creation. With the new translation, English speaking Catholics will once again be able to know that the prayers we are praying are in fact the same ones being used around the world rather than our own special editing. Much more will come in the upcoming months.

Why do so many people seem to really enjoy Ash Wednesday and actual look forward to Lent? I think we all need to have that day when we are able to draw the line in the sand and head in a new direction. We get a glimpse of how much better we could be and we need a day on which we finally start. Today is that kind of day. We get a new beginning. This makes Lent not a season of sadness, but a season of hope. We hope for a future free from our attachments to sin. We pray for the new freedom of Easter and know that today can be that day when we really start to change our lives. If we’ve been waiting for just the right day to begin our new life, here it is. Today is a very acceptable time.

St. Ignatius teaches that the devil is like the leader of an opposing army that rides around the walls of a city looking for a weak point at which to attack. When the weakness is found it is there that the attack begins. Ignatius proposes that instead of allowing ourselves to be continually attacked we should instead go out and round around our own walls. Upon finding a weakness we should immediately begin to repair it and build it up. Lent is a great time for going out and riding around our walls. We seek to strengthen our weaknesses by taking on voluntary penances. If we challenge ourselves this Lent we will arrive at Easter with our walls in good repair and with much new strength.

We live in a very busy world. It seems that everywhere we look we find stress and anxiety. Today’s gospel is meant to provide us some time to calm down. Jesus asks us to consider the “Lilies of the Field” and how the flowers and other plants and animals don’t worry about anything that we normally do, and yet they are provided for by God. Our peace comes from knowing that God loves us and will provide for us, no matter what our present situation might be. If we can trust in our Heavenly Father, then we will have a peace that the world cannot give.

In this weekend’s gospel, Jesus continues where he left off last week with more hard sayings about what it really means to keep the law. Just when we might be thinking that it is impossible to really keep the commandments, Jesus offers this consoling summation. “Be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Well, that certainly doesn’t seem to offer much comfort. Just in case there was any doubt, yes, Jesus wants us to be perfect. Yet, if we look at the Greek behind this word, perhaps we may still find some hope.

The Greek word translated as “perfect” is “telos.” It’s a world that means refers to the end or reason for something. A perfect bridge would be one that best achieves the end of what a bridge is supposed to do. A perfect human being is therefore one who lives in a way that is ordered to his or her end, his or her “telos.” Jesus is essentially telling us to live up to who we were created to be. We’ve got to know the purpose for which we were created if we are ever going to find fulfillment. We’ve got to know where we’re going if we expect to get there.

St. Paul gives us the answer in today’s 2nd reading. “Do you not know that you are temples of the Holy Spirit?” We were created to be temples of God. That is why Leviticus tells us to “Be Holy just as I your God am Holy.” We were made for holiness; we were made to be with God forever in heaven. That is our “telos”. If we know that this is our reason for existence then think how much difference it can make in our lives. Every decision now comes down to one question. “Does this help me achieve my end or not?” “Does this help me get to heaven or not?” If we want to be perfect then let’s choose the things that will get us to heaven. Now that doesn’t sound so impossible after all.